GPL operating on razor-thin reserve

Sep 15, 2026 News

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…generators pushed beyond maintenance deadlines– Patterson

(Kaieteur News) – Former Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson has warned that the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) is operating with a razor-thin spinning reserve, leaving the national electricity grid vulnerable to failures and cascading outages.

Patterson made the disclosure during a recent episode of Sources- a NewsSource  programme hosted Journalist, Svetlana Marshall. Patterson explained that a properly functioning power grid should maintain between 15% and 20% of its peak generating capacity as spinning reserve.

Spinning reserve refers to generating units that are connected to the grid but are not producing electricity at full capacity. They remain available to be brought online immediately if a generating unit supplying the system fails.

“So therefore, should one of the gensets that’s powering the system fail, you can immediately activate one of the reserve units. Right? So that’s why it’s called spinning reserve,” Patterson explained.

He said that with GPL’s peak demand reaching approximately 256 megawatts (MW) in August 2026, the system should ideally have significantly more generating capacity available as reserve. “The bare minimum is that you must have 15 to 20% above the 256,” Patterson said, adding that GPL currently has only about 5% in reserve.

According to Patterson, the narrow margin means that any failure of a generating unit could quickly place the entire system under strain. “I mean, some countries have more, the more industrialised countries, but the bare minimum is that you must have 15 to 20% above the 256. Right now, we only have about five, which means that if anything happens, we have a cascading effect on the grid,” he said. Patterson further warned that the lack of adequate reserve capacity is forcing GPL to keep its generating units operating for extended periods, including beyond scheduled maintenance periods.

He said this creates a vicious cycle in which generators cannot be taken offline for necessary repairs because there are insufficient units available to maintain the electricity supply.

Patterson recalled that the former coalition administration had encountered similar challenges when it assumed office, with several generating sets at GPL having poor maintenance records because they had been required to operate continuously to meet demand.

“There were no chances to take a unit of 25 megawatts down for maintenance, even if it was direly needed, because that would leave a gap in the system the entire time maintenance was being done,” he explained.

Using a vehicle analogy, Patterson said operating generators beyond their maintenance schedules could cause serious damage to the equipment. “I mean, if you have a car and you’re supposed to maintain it, change oil every 5,000 miles, but because of reasons you change it at 10,000, it does more damage to your internal equipment. That’s exactly where GPL is at the moment,” he said.

Patterson contended that GPL is therefore being forced to run generators around the clock, increasing wear and tear and potentially worsening the reliability problems facing the national grid. “So, they can’t take any of the units down for maintenance because we are so thin on the borderline. So that now, of course, will cause problems going down because you run the generators 24 hours,” he added.

Meanwhile, speaking at a news conference on Monday President Irfaan Ali acknowledged the challenges facing Guyana’s electricity system, particularly the reliability of the GPL network, while committing to major investment to strengthen the national grid. “We cannot continue with an unreliable system,” he said.

Citing an independent report from InterEnergy, commissioned by the government to assess the system, President Ali said peak demand on the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System rose from about 205 megawatts in 2024 to 242.6 megawatts in August 2026.  This represents an 18 per cent increase, which is more than five times the 3.4 per cent average growth rate across the Latin America and Caribbean region.

The report projects electricity demand could rise by approximately 138 per cent by 2029, while GPL is expected to add more than 62,000 new customers as homes, businesses and industries continue connecting to the grid. President Ali said the government is absorbing rising fuel import costs, including an 86.8 per cent jump in diesel used for generation, through increased subsidies, so the increases are not passed on to consumers.

He also pointed to discussions held during his recent state visit to Qatar as a potential source of financing for the scale of investment required. “We have to make the investment, and this is one of the things Qatar also is ready to help on,” he said.

Billions of dollars are already being invested in generation, transmission and distribution upgrades, President Ali said, including more than 360 kilometres of new high-voltage transmission lines, over 10 new substations, and grid modernisation measures such as advanced metering and battery energy storage. InterEnergy has recommended an independent grid reliability task force, smart metering, additional generating capacity, and further transmission and distribution investment.

“We cannot promise that there will never be another interruption… but not what we are having now. Unacceptable,” President Ali said, adding that the solution requires “major investment… in a comprehensive way.”

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• electricity grid, energy reserve, GPL, outages, razor-thin

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